Chelsea survive battle royal

On A nice quiet night at the Madejski Stadium, Chelsea gained three more points, lost two goalkeepers, had a man sent off and got involved in a touchline punch-up. Then, in his typically confrontational manner, manager Jose Mourinho gave the pot another stir afterwards by accusing Reading's Stephen Hunt of deliberately injuring Petr Cech.

Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper was hurt in the first minute of this tempestuous contest when he dived at Hunt's feet as the left-sided midfielder chased a James Harper through-ball into the visitors' penalty area. Hunt appeared to catch Cech accidentally in the face with his knee, but Mourinho thought otherwise.

After some four minutes of treatment by anxious paramedics, the goalkeeper was carried off and taken to hospital. "I'm not saying his [Hunt's] intention was to send my 'keeper to hospital," said the Chelsea manager, "but it was a very stupid challenge. It was a challenge for a red card.

"The 'keeper had the ball in his hands and was sliding. The No 10 [Hunt] can't go for the ball, so he goes with the knee and goes for the head. If he goes with a knee to the face he doesn't want to avoid him."

Mourinho was further incensed by what he saw as Hunt's laughter after the incident. The Reading player, however, vehemently denied all charges. "I was 100 per cent intent on winning the ball," he insisted. "I hope Petr Cech is not badly hurt and makes a full recovery as soon as possible."

Hunt was also defended by his manager, Steve Coppell. "There's no way anyone in this club wants to see anybody injured," he said. "And there's no way anyone would laugh about an injury."

But the claims and counter-claims over Cech's injury were only a fraction of last night's tumult. In a grisly echo of what had happened to him in the first minute of the game, Cech's replacement Carlo Cudicini was badly hurt in the last. He banged his head heavily on the ground after a sickening, but accidental, mid-air collision with Reading's Ibrahima Sonko.

Again the paramedics were called and again Chelsea's goalkeeper was carried off after prolonged treatment and rushed to the Royal Berks Hospital, where both he and Cech were detained overnight. It will be a severe blow to the London club's hopes of gaining revenge against arch rivals Barcelona if neither is fit to play in Wednesday's Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge.

Then, with Reading battering away vigorously at Chelsea in an attempt to snatch an equaliser, a scuffle broke out on the touchline as a member of the visitors' coaching staff was slow in returning the ball to a Reading player.

Blows appeared to be thrown, and the referee looked to send off an assistant coach from each side.

Already in the dressing room were Chelsea's John Obi Mikel and Reading's Andre Bikey. Mikel was shown the red card in the 61st minute for pulling back Sonko, his second yellow card offence. Bikey, who had come on at right-back when Reading captain Graeme Murty limped off after 32 minutes, also collected two yellows.

His dismissal came in the 83rd minute of normal time - because of Cudicini's injury, the game overran by 18 minutes - and signalled the end of Reading's frenzied attempts to profit from numerical advantage.

As for the football, the framework of both goals was struck in the first half. Harper did it unintentionally with a header against his own bar, but Kevin Doyle definitely meant to score as he wrong-footed the Chelsea defence with a brilliant turn in their penalty area and a drove a shot against a post.

Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann saved well from the outstanding Didier Drogba before Chelsea snatched their goal in first half stoppage time from a controversial free-kick. The Reading fans were convinced Lampard had dived, and did not hesitate to express their sense of outrage. They booed his every touch thereafter and broke into a chant of "Where were you on Wednesday night?", reminding him of yet another pallid performance for England, this time in Croatia.

Even so, Lampard could afford to laugh it all off after seeing his powerfully struck free-kick ricochet sideways off Reading's defensive wall, hit the hapless Ivar Ingimarsson and fly past the wrong-footed Hahnemann.

Mindful of all the criticism Lampard has attracted of late, the Chelsea players mobbed him joyously. But, at the end, their relief at having got the points that keep them level with Manchester United at the top of the Premiership was palpable.